Seoul National University will be hosting the XXII World Congress of Philosophy 2008 (WCP 2008) from July 30th to August 5th. WCP, also referred to as the philosophical Olympics, is the biggest philosophical event around the world and has been organized every 5 years worldwide since it was first held at Paris, France in 1900. WCP 2008, especially, is very meaningful in that it is the first Congress ever to be held in Asia.

WCP 2008, with its central theme of ‘Rethinking Philosophy Today’, will provide 4 plenary sessions, each with different sub-themes: moral, social and political philosophy; metaphysics and aesthetics; epistemology, philosophy of science and technology; history of philosophy and comparative philosophy.

Prominent scholars representing the following 5 topics,▲conflict and tolerance ▲globalization and cosmopolitanism ▲bioethics, environmental ethics and future generations ▲tradition, modernity and post-modernity ▲philosophy in Korea, will be invited to introduce the recent academic issues on philosophy through enlightening speeches, symposia, roundtable meetings etc.

About 2,600 scholars from more than 100 countries will be participating and presenting around 1,700 theses in WCP 2008. Some of the world’s distinguished scholars taking part in WCP 2008 include Vittorio Hoesle(professor of University of Notre Dame, USA), Timothy Williamson, Judith Butler(professor of UC Berkeley, USA), Jaegwon Kim(chair professor of Brown University), and Tanella Boni(professor of University of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire).

An honorary professor of SNU, Myung-Hyun Lee, who is also the President of the Korean Organizing Committee of WCP, expressed his thoughts that ‘as the first Congress to be held in Asia, this event will be an opportunity for Eastern philosophy to be globally recognized and moreover for the Korean nation to enhance its standing in the philosophical world.’

* For further information on World Congress of Philosophy, please visit http://www.wcp2008.or.kr

2008. 7. 22
Translated by Narry Kim
SNU Public Relations Office